SANTA PAULA : Landlord Pleads Guilty to Violations

The owner of an apartment house near Santa Paula that was declared unsafe in June has pleaded guilty to charges that she allowed dangerous electrical wiring conditions to exist while renting the rooms to six farm worker families, a spokeswoman for the county counsel’s office said Tuesday.

Alice Davalos of Santa Paula will pay a fine of $500 for three misdemeanor violations at the Telegraph Road apartments, including one charge of using an improper electrical fuse box and another of illegal use of extension cords, Assistant County Counsel Robin D. McGrew said.

Davalos also pleaded guilty in Municipal Court to a charge that she ignored a county building inspector’s order to move the tenants from the dilapidated building after it was determined to be unsafe, McGrew said.

“They were running the cords through the buildings across the ceiling, rather than having plugs, such as in a normal house,” McGrew said. “That is considered to be a fire hazard.”

All 26 tenants have vacated the apartments, according to Davalos, but some said in August that they would have to move onto the street or into their cars because they could not find housing that they could afford.

However, county building official William Windroth said Tuesday that most of the families have found new lodging and one family reportedly purchased a house.

None of the families could be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The apartment owner and her son, John Davalos of San Jose, plan to have the six-unit converted motel demolished because the cost to bring it into compliance with the county building code is too high, McGrew said Tuesday.

Complaints about conditions in the single-wall apartments were initiated in 1988 after building inspectors, acting on a tip from a neighbor, discovered faulty plumbing and wiring, McGrew said.

A series of notices were issued asking the Davaloses to remedy the problems, but they went unheaded, McGrew said.